Game Changers - Abbreviated Buddy Read

 

Series: Game Changers

Titles: Heated Rivalry, Tough Guy, Role Model, The Long Game

Author: Rachel Reid

Publisher: Carina Press

Genres: Sports, LGBT+, Contemporary

My friend and I did a buddy read of 4 of the 6 books in the Game Changers series. The series is a MM hockey romance series. We've both read all of the books at least once, and for me, they're all 5 star books! In saying that, Books 1 and 4 include less of my favorite character, Ilya Rozanov, so we skipped those entries for the purposes of this buddy read.

For those of you who are wondering, a buddy read is just like a tiny book club. We chose to read the same books at ~roughly~ the same time so that we could bounce ideas off of one another, and emotionally support each other through the swoons and the heart breaks.

Ratings (Series as a whole & all of the books individually)

Stars: 5/5

Spice: 5/5

Here are some quotes from my full reviews of the books! 

Heated Rivalry

I couldn't possibly sing the praises of this book enough. It took me a day to read it the first time, and a day to read it again the second time. That is captivation! Watching these men grow to love one another is the most satisfying experience in contemporary romance.

Tough Guy

Ultimately, I love that this isn't a coming out book. Ryan is out. He's proud. He's private, and he doesn't throw rainbows and pictures of him kissing men all over social media or whatever. But he's never wavered in his identity that he is a man who loves men, and that is hot.

Role Model

My big take away from this reread is that I find it HILARIOUS that Troy Barrett considers himself a dog person. This man is a beautiful, bitchy cat. After speaking with my friends I will allow that he MIGHT be a shih tzu with his bangs in a bow. But I stand by my assessment that he is a cat. Even when you're firmly in his inner monologue about Harris after they've fully fallen in love, he STILL talks about how annoying he is. Which is just perfection!

The Long Game

My entire review for this book is just me complaining about Shane. I'm not going to paste that in here, but I will elaborate a tiny bit. I love Ilya and Shane so much. They're perfect together. But Shane had a LOT of growing to do in this book. Ilya had his fair share of growing as well, and it was LOVELY to watch the both of them grow as individuals and a couple. <3